German Hostage Freed In Afghanistan

October 18, 2015

Afghan security personnel and police push the vehicle from which a German female aid worker was kidnapped by armed gunmen at the entrance to the office of German development agency GIZ in Kabul on August 17.

A female German aid worker who was kidnapped in Afghanistan in August has been released and is in good health.

The German development organization GIZ said on October 18 that the woman "is good considering the circumstances" and is "very relieved and happy" at being released.

The employee, whose name was not released, had been abducted on August 17 in central Kabul when armed men stopped the car she was in and took her captive.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said in Tehran that he was "very relieved" to hear she had been freed and thanked the Afghan government and the country's security forces for securing her release.

Another GIZ aid worker was abducted by armed men in the northern province of Kunduz in April. He was rescued after 40 days as a captive.